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Lorne Szmek has been living in the Vancouver area since 1973. I have been creating art ever since I was a small child and I have always had a vivid and elaborate imagination that I have tried to express and share through my artwork.

During the late 90’s I developed a physical handicap that required meto change careers and during the periods between retraining I started to create metal and mixed media sculpture and to use digital media to find an outlet for my creative spirit.

I make use of the MS Paint program. This application comes as standard with all Windows operating systems. It is a difficult tool to use because of its rudimentary tool set and low resolution but I find that it produces the look that I am after. In my abstract creations I prefer the stark, minimalist, pixilated quality that I can get from the application while it delivers an impressionistic feel to my more formal images. These qualities are more pronounced as the size of the image is increased.

The only formal art training I have received was through the public school system and while most people would consider this a disadvantage, I don’t. I have found that it has forced me to develop my own unique style and technique. I have been able to look at the work of artists from the past and present with a fresh perspective, unfiltered through someone else’s preconceptions, and use some of their ideas to enhance my own creations.

I think this is why I have gravitated toward abstract impressionism as
well. Although I can create the illusion of realism following the rules of
perspective, line, light and shadow and colour in my graphite or pen and ink
sketching and coloured pencil compositions, I find freedom in abstraction.

My artwork usually starts from instinct or inspiration and then I refine
the piece through the process of its creation. My images usually start out
quite small and then they are enlarged and edited several times before they
are completed. The final result may have little resemblance to the original
idea but it has come straight from my heart never the less.